𐌙/𐌍 Ᏽ𐌵𐌀𐌋𐌄 & 𐌕𐋅𐌄 Ᏽ𐌐𐌄𐌀𐌕 𐌌𐌙𐌕𐋅𐌔 ¹

Chapter 3

  "Camp," she said after a minute. "Big trouble at camp."

  "My mom was saying the same thing! But what kind of trouble?" Percy asked.

  "I don’t know exactly. Something’s wrong. We have to get there right away. Monsters have been chasing me all the way from Virginia, trying to stop me. Have you two had a lot of attacks?"

  I shook my head. "Just some here and there."

  "None all year ... until today." Percy said.

  "None? But how ..." Her eyes drifted to Tyson. "Oh."

  "What do mean, “oh”?"

  Tyson raised his hand like he was still in class. "Canadians in the gym called Percy something ... Son of the Sea God?" This was the first time I had heard him talk outside from his yelling back in the gym, and now I had time to notice that his voice was colored strongly like Topaz and looked really spiky.

  Annabeth and I exchanged looks. I shook my head with a frown. She shrugged.

  "Big guy," Percy said, "you ever hear those old stories about the Greek gods? Like Zeus, Poseidon, Athena–"

  "Yes," Tyson said.

  "Well . . . those gods are still alive. They kind of follow Western Civilization around, living in the strongest countries, so like now they’re in the U.S. And sometimes they have kids with mortals. Kids called half-bloods."

  "Yes," Tyson said, like he was still waiting for Percy to get to the point.

  "Uh, well, Annabeth, (y/n) and I are half-bloods," he said. "We’re like ... heroes-in-training. And whenever monsters pick up our scent, they attack us. That’s what those giants were in the gym. Monsters."

"Yes."

  I stared at him. He didn’t seem surprised or confused by what Percy was telling him. I didn't know that Cyclops had knowledge about half-bloods, hell I had never even heard of people talking about them outside of history class, so I didn't know if this was normal.

  "So ... you believe me?" Percy asked.

  Tyson nodded. "But you are ... Son of the Sea God?"

  "Yeah," he admitted. "My dad is Poseidon."

  Tyson frowned. Now he looked confused. "But then ..."

  A siren wailed. A police car raced past our alley.

  "We don’t have time for this," Annabeth said. "We’ll talk in the taxi."

  "A taxi all the way to camp?" I said. "You know how much money–"

  "Trust me."

  I sighed. "I always do. And I think I'm starting to regret it."

  "What about Tyson?" Percy asked.

  "Well, we can’t just leave him," I shrugged. "Right?"

  "Yeah." Annabeth looked grim. "We definitely need to take him. Now come on."